Welcome to our travel blog. We are Tabitha and Nic. In 2011 we 'retired' in our early 40s and set off to travel the world. We spent our first year in South America and have been lucky enough to make two trips to Antarctica.

Our blog is a record of our travels, thoughts and experiences. It is not a guide book, but we do include some tips and information, so we hope that you may find it useful if you are planning to visit somewhere we have been. Or you may just find it interesting as a bit of armchair travel.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Not having a lot of free time to see the sights, we used a self-guided walking tour booklet by Metrowalkz , which included route maps for different areas of the city and gave good background on the main sights. The routes were interesting, scenic and felt very safe.

Millennium Park, Chicago

One of our highlights was Millennium Park, a large (25 acre) open space amidst the tall buildings. It includes the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, an impressive outdoor venue designed by Frank Gehry

Millennium Park, Chicago

Cloud Gate, Chicago

Millennium Park, Chicago

Cloud Gate, Chicago

The most arresting thing that we saw there, however, was the Cloud Gate (by Anish Kapoor). Also known by locals as ‘the bean’, it’s a flowing sculpture that’s highly reflective in all directions, like a hall of mirrors.

Cloud Gate, Chicago

It’s fun to play with taking various pictures of yourself and the surrounding buildings, including from right under the sculpture. Of course everyone wants to play in the same way, so it’s best to avoid going there at peak times if you want some of the reflections to yourself without waiting for too long.

Cloud Gate, Chicago

Cloud Gate, Chicago

Another stand-out place that we visited was the Art Institute of Chicago. Travelling a lot, we often find it often too easy to get a bit bored by museums and galleries, but this rose above most of them. Maybe it partly depends on what you like. But if you like Impressionism, then you’d love the many very recognisable works on show, including loads of Monet haystacks. There was also a very large temporary Picasso exhibition, which one of us liked a lot, the other not so much.

Willis Tower, Chicago

We also rose above the sights in another way, in The Signature Lounge on the 96th floor, 875 N Michigan Ave (the John Hancock Centre). Visit this stylish bar as an alternative to the 103rd floor view from the Willis (formerly the Sears) Tower, and for the entrance fee saved you can buy a cocktail or a couple of beers.

Willis Tower, Chicago

Willis Tower, Chicago

view from Willis Tower, Chicago

view from Willis Tower, Chicago

﻿

Tribune Building, Chicago

The neo-gothic Tribune Tower is a peculiar building, as the outside includes 120 labelled stones from various world structures, including the Berlin Wall, Westminster Abbey, and the Coliseum. It is unclear whether all of these were acquired openly and honestly, but it is interesting to see what’s there.

﻿

Tribune Building, Chicago

Tribune Building, Chicago

Tribune Building, Chicago

Tribune Building, Chicago

﻿

Chicago Cultural Centre

The Chicago Cultural Centre, dating from 1897, is also worth a look. Originally the city’s central library, which was established with a donation of 8000 books after the Great Chicago Fire of 1870 destroyed the old public reading rooms, it has a Greek/Roman style.

No comments:

Post a Comment

We like to hear from you too, so please leave us a message here. We are also happy to answer any questions if we can help. Comments are moderated so will not appear straight away and there could be some delay in replying if we are travelling.

Our slideshows

As well as the pictures on the blog itself, we are gradually creating some albums of extra photos. You can watch the slideshow below, or if you click on a slideshow it should take you to our Picasa photo albums. We have added to captions to some pictures so that you can see what they are.